There are three good homebrew supply stores in the salt lake valley and iirc a couple in southern utah (richfield and st. george?).

Grocery stores don't have anything over 4% ABV and availability on sunday varies by city BUT good beers from local breweries are almost universally available (in 4.0ABV form).

Everything higher than 4% is sold either direct from the brewery or from state-owned stores that have a good but not exhaustive selection. A complete list of beverages available from the ABC stores can be found here:

I have heard it alleged that the salt lake valley has the highest per-capita concentration of breweries in the nation and i sort of believe this. There are many microbreweries i have not had the pleasure of visiting. Epic is very good but you pay for it. Utah Brewer's Co-Operative aka Wasatch and Squatters breweries (they share) is now technically an award-winning medium-size brewery producing hundreds of thousands of gallons of truly decent beer per year. Uinta is quite good as well.

Of course you can get stronger beer in bars but you generally cannot leave with it (with the possible exception of growlers with a seal sticker applied over the cap).

Oh, and ordering a mixed drink at a restaurant in utah is a fool's errand due to nonsensical restrictions on how many shots can be in it.

As Timp Slim said, you can still get good beer in SLC, you just have to work harder for it. The local microbrews are really good (Epic is one of my favorites, and not overpriced at all). It can be difficult to get good out-of-state brews as the beer is all imported by the state DABC. If it's not on their list, you won't be able to get it. The Beerhive and the Bayou are your best bets as far as selection goes. It can be frustrating, but where there is a will... All that being said, I'm moving back to TX, and beer is a significant reason.

It is still too soon to tell but it looks like this may become a reality.

Just to clarify... You CAN get beers above 4% but just not grocery stores? You CAN brew your own beer but is it very frowned upon by the rest of the community?

Other than you two responders, are there plenty of us (homebrewers) around?

You can get beers above 4% but if you want to take it home you have to buy it from the state stores or directly from the brewery. There are many breweries.

I think i provided a link to the state store's catalog pdf. Your most local ABC store may or may not have what you want in stock, but if it's in the catalog they can get it for you. The ABC store prices are usurious. Just think of it as supporting public education.

Homebrewing has been tolerated since at least the 80's and has been explicitly legal since the 90's.

I give my spent grain to my very mormon neighbor who keeps chickens. How tolerant your neighborhood is really depends on your neighborhood. Salt lake city is only about half mormon, you know. I live in Orem which is overwhelmingly mormon, and they seem to have gotten over it.

There are three good LHBS in salt lake city. One of them has been open since the 80's but is struggling these days. And the guy who runs it is a bit of a character. If you are moving to somewhere far south of Salt Lake City, I think the next LHBS is in Richfield.

There seem to be plenty of homebrewers around, but we don't seem to congregate anywhere but the LHBS. The guess is that this is because many of us are lapsed mormons and don't exactly want to advertise it on facebook, etc, for fear of offending family, etc.

I mean, every time i find a piece of gear for my brewing on a local classified listing, it turns out to be sold by a home brewer, even if it's not strictly something for homebrewing. I got my jet-engine-like propane rig from a guy who went electric.

As long as there is a dive bar that serves a few options of craft beer and I can go to the brewery to grab some there, I think I will be happy down there.

I am slightly disappointed though, I spent the last year and a half upgrading and upsizing my brewery. I do 10 gallon AG batches and brew outside. However, now that I will most likely not be renting a HOUSE anymore, instead maybe an apartment or town-home, I feel like I will have to sell off some equipment and downsize my brewery to brew inside. The thought of this makes me very sad... but hey, gotta go where the money is I guess.

I am very ignorant to the layout of the state, how far is Orem from SLC?

I would be working with Fastenal Corp. In the beginning of the job, it sounds like I would be traveling out of state the majority of the time, Utah would/will/possibly be more of just a home base for me. If I am not around all the time I guess it would at least make it easier for me to age my beers and my pipeline will probably need less replenishing.

Everything is still up in the air, I have only been offered the job over the last several months but now I told them I want to jump on it. With that being said, they are making it sound more than just a strong possibility but the timeline of when the job will actually be open is yet to be seen. Not trying to count my chickens before they hatch but I really hope this all goes through.

Anywho, if this does all go down I may need someone who knows the area to show me a few good watering holes...